Atelier of the Unknown Painter

“We cannot talk about light without talking about darkness too.” — Goethe

“Spirit is inserted in atoms.” — Democritus

The atelier of the unknown painter is a vague and incomplete allegory of the aesthetic dimension of experience, which is non-conceptual, and it doesn’t tell you what to believe, because it gives you the ability to experience the radical and unconditional openness that you cannot impose on anyone.

The unknown painter doesn’t give you all kinds of explanations as to what he’s going to do. He’s trying to talk directly to your mind. He’s that kind of artist. The more explanations he puts in, the more defenses you put up. You’re not ready to look at it, to absorb it, to bury yourself in it. You’re already on the defensive. He goes directly to your unconscious, or to that which cannot be known, but as the unknown painter says, only glimpsed. His paintings are to some extent a calligraphy of the unconscious.

The unknown painter lives in the fantasy space that’s projected into reality. He materializes out of nowhere and in his dreamlike fantastic existence lies his unconditional mastery.